The Committee on Capital Markets Regulation today released data on the total public financial penalties imposed on financial institutions in the U.S. for the first half of 2013. Public financial penalties include public class action settlements that arise from class action lawsuits brought by the government (e.g., state attorneys general) and regulatory penalties that follow enforcement actions by regulatory agencies including the SEC, CFTC and others.
Through the second quarter, total public financial penalties have reached approximately $22.6 billion with the second quarter adding $755 million of penalties to the $21.8 billion imposed in the first quarter. While this does illustrate a significant drop in penalties in
the most recent quarter, the second quarter total is larger than the annual amount of financial penalties in each of 2007, 2008, and 2009. Early indications are that the third quarter will also witness significant penalty figures.
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The Committee on Capital Markets Regulation is an independent and nonpartisan 501(c)(3) research organization dedicated to improving the regulation of U.S. capital markets. The Committee’s membership includes thirty-two leaders drawn from the finance, investment, business, law, accounting, and academic communities. The Committee is chaired jointly by R. Glenn Hubbard (Dean, Columbia Business School) and John L. Thornton (Chairman, The Brookings Institution) and directed by Prof. Hal S. Scott (Nomura Professor and Director of the Program on International Financial Systems, Harvard Law School).
For further information:
Hal S. Scott, Director
Committee on Capital Markets Regulation
info@capmktsreg.org
(617)-495-4590
A PDF of this press release may be viewed here.